We've been thick as thieves since 4th grade. He and I grew up around the corner from one another in Huntington Beach, CA. We spent many afternoons at our parents' houses working on group projects, studying for Mr. Duval's biology tests, and helping each other understand math homework.

A lifelong lover of music, Rishi gave me my first Radiohead album (The Bends) for my 16th birthday, which I listened to on repeat in my first car (because it was better than my other cds: Blink 182 Cheshire Cat, Mariah Carey Emotions, etc). He also burned me my first mixed-cd. Remember that?! Before iTunes, Spotify, and Soundcloud? At Mesa View Middle School, bottom of the totem pole 6th grade Rishi quickly became The Man when he started selling ten-song compilation compact discs of everyone's favorite jams. Each cd cost you $10, and soon, Rishi had started his first company and was a middle school stud.

He went south to UC San Diego, me north to UC Santa Barbara and we kept in touch until we both moved to LA after college.

Now, the forever clever entrepreneur and hip Silverlake home owner just launched two new companies. The first, a small music management company called High5 Management, and the second, a digital marketing arm of a stellar boutique media company, which he's named Versus Digital.

Of course he started two new companies! Of course he's killing it!

I've always known that Rishi would be successful. He is kind, smart, calculated, and can bridge business + creative in an industry that is filled with mostly super creative people with no business sense OR business people with no dedication to the art.

Discoveries1. I'll be fine. When I've come to Rishi in moments of transition, he has constantly ended our deep detailed brainstorms and conversations with the words, "I'm not worried about you. You'll be fine, Linds."

Those two sentences have always been really comforting. Maybe because I hope my closest friends and family see something special in me that I can't see. Sometimes, all we need to push forward is to remember that someone we love and trust believes in us.